Hi there. My car has been running well until today, i was on my way to work (first day at new job) and when i pulled up at work water was pouring out of the back of my car... Brown water.... Temp guage inside the car showed no problems, I couldnt do anything as i had to be on time for work so left it till 5pm. When i could i looked at the water level in the reservoir and it only seemed slightly low. I took the car to my dads after work and didnt have a problem, its only a short run though. To show him the problem i left the car running and not only did the fan not kick in BUT at just above the temp that it should water came out of the overflow pipe at very high (hot) pressure, this time loosing lots of water from the system... So im guessing this is obviously overheating, BUT is this normal from just a faulty thermostat or does it sound like a blockage too? possible caused by a build up of crap in the pipes? Any help will be great, ta, David

Unfortunately it sounds as if your cooling system is pressurising which is usually the sign of a head gasket failure or in the case of the 2.2 you could have a cracked head (hopefully not but they are apparently prone to cracking).

I would suggest that you send Roy an e-mail as he will know exactly what to look for and will be able to advise what to do to check things out.

You could have a small leak in or around the water pump. The engine must be pressurised to prevent boiling, but if there's even a microscopic leak in the system (head gasket, crack, water pump bearing etc), the pressure can't be maintained and you will have full boiling water in the engine. This will cause the header tank to overflow.

Since you don't have oil in water or vice versa, I think you should look for leaks on the water pump. Coolant is difficult to see on the engine, but put a tray under the car and look if it's dripping from somewhere. Then try to trace it back up on the engine.

I had a leaking gasket between the timing chain cover and the engine block. This caused the same problem as yours. The leak was very difficult to detect, but eventually I caught this photo:

Interestingly, the boiling usually takes place when the engine is shut off after some low speed driving as you'll do when you're looking for a spot to park in. This is because of the heat stored in the engine block and exhaust - as soon as the flow of fresh water stops, the water in the engine immediately starts to boil!

At the Dutch forum someone mentioned the following problem: sometimes the motor did work flawless, sometimes the cooling fluid started to boil and the car lost a lot of cooling water.

The solution turned out to be quite simple: the problem was in the cap of the expansion reservoir. The rubber sealing of this cap had become fragile and did not lock well anymore. So, under pressure some damp did escape sometimes and as a consequence the cooling fluid started boiling and a lot of water was thrown out through the overflow pipe.Renewing the rubber sealing of the cap of the expansion reservoir solved the problem.

Well thats why I thought it was possibly a blockage? I left the car with my father (who owned it before me) and he's put a new thermostat on (the old one obviously didnt work), he thinks this is the problem, i on the other hand fear that will help but not cure... time will tell

Well thats exactly what happened, the thermostat never kicked in, ive just got it back with new thermostat and i have everything crossed that it will have solved the problem, this one kicks in at 82deg C. The old one was in a really bad way so im told, so maybe it may fix it.... I'll keep my eyes and ears at the ready!

Thanks guys, I really donít have good car mechanical knowledge and I really appreciate you all for any help offered, Iíve just had it running for 20 minutes and all was looking good, Iíll take it to work and give it a longer test in the morning.

can anyone tell me what make the fan switch on at the temp set on the thermostat? as although my car now has new thermostat, i still didnt hear the fan kick in?

Well the fan only kicks in when the temperature of the water flowing OUT of the radiator is above a certain level. So as long as the water temperature gauge sits reasonably comfortably around or below the 90 degree mark, it's not likely to happen.